The Simple Life.

I'm sure I've written about this numerous times, but I just can't get it out of my head.

Maybe it's just a phase. But it isn't one of those 10 minute phases.

Maybe it is a result of recoiling from the whole growing up thing. Where we have to pay a mortgage and worry about gas bills, and forego nights out on the town for staying in with a six-pack.

Maybe it's reading blogs about women who stay home with their children to watch them grow, and who grow their own vegetables and knit their own socks. Because isn't the grass always greener?

Maybe it's a function of seeing the daily news reports of recessions and depressions, and failing banks, and homeowners in crisis.

I remember, back in school, reading about the problems my generation would have with keeping up with my parents' generation. Whatever it was I was reading, or listening to, made the point that for generations and generations, the following generation made out better than the previous. Parents raised children who got more education, made more money, had more things, bigger houses, fancier cars, better savings. Whatever. And now, as my generation comes of age, the tables have turned. I will not, in many respects, have the things my parents had. Of course they had their own struggles. But they still managed to own a home, and cars, and my mother could stay home with us for 8 years. I'm not sure this is even a remote possibility for me. Not with out major cut backs, or a huge pay increase for my husband, or a windfall.

We're being knocked down a peg. We will not have everything we want. We might not even get everything we need. In an effort to preserve sanity and conserve energy and resources, simplicity is calling me. Maybe it's some sort of evolutionary mechanism. Or instinctual. I want to go somewhere quiet, where people aren't competing for the biggest house or fanciest car or whatever. I don't want to see a million people every day. I don't want to feel crazy every day because I feel like there is so much I should be doing, seeing. I want to live somewhere where it's ok to stay home all weekend because there is no other choice. I want to live somewhere where we can afford to be simple, and to stay at home.

I think, what it maybe comes down to, is that I'm tired of wanting, and tired of feeling like I need more. Tired of competing. Tired of climbing. I want a smaller house, a cheaper car, fewer televisions.

Maybe I'm crazy. But, until I am diagnosed as such, I am going to strive for less. Strive to be more giving, more resourceful. Less greedy. Less inclined to instant gratification.

I'll let you know how it goes.